Canoodlus Interruptus
by prplemyth
Summary: Percy and Annabeth, in love and happy, rent a hotel room. Then, because they are demigods and nothing is ever easy for them, something always has to go wrong. Percabeth!
1. The First Canoodle

_A/N: What is this? Me? Writing a Percabeth fic rated T? MADNESS! Set after TLO, probably after TLH too._

_I'm not sure why I wrote this. I've been writing far more lately than I should. I got inspired somehow while emptying the dishwasher when I was wondering what Artemis would say to Annabeth…Well, you'll see._

_Enjoy, and if you did, let me know!_

"Wow," I said, feeling Annabeth cuddle into my shoulder, "That…Wow."

I could hear Annabeth giggle quietly. "I'm glad you…had…fun?"

I nodded. "I'm not sure if fun is the right way to put it," I said, reveling in the memory, "But incredible is close enough."

Annabeth snuggled into my side, "You know," she said, looking up into my eyes, "I'm now glad that you got that Dunkin' Donuts job. Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to come here."

I gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Another reason I'm glad we live in the city," I said, looking around the hotel room we had rented for the afternoon, "It's not hard to get a hotel room for a night."

"And can you imagine how awkward it would have been if we had done this in a cabin, and Chiron or someone might have walked in?" she shuddered, "I do not want to think about that."

The two of us lay there, cuddling and laughing.

And I, for one, was reliving the previous few moments. Short, admittedly, they were, but practice makes perfect.

"Are you okay?" I asked, remembering the look of her wincing. I hated remembering how I'd hurt her, but she'd told me that it was normal and had to happen.

As usual, the intellectual Annabeth had done far too much research on the topic before even discussing it with me. It's what I loved about her.

"Yeah," she said, "It's a necessary evil."

"Ooh," I said, "Like trigonometry?"

She punched me lightly in the shoulder, "You're such a nerd."

"I'm the nerd?" I said, sitting up on my elbow and looking her in her gorgeous gray eyes, "Me? Really."

Annabeth poked me in the stomach, and I pretended to fall over and pass out.

"You've killed me," I choked, "Dead. Death. Murder. I'm dead. Goodnight."

"Oh, shut up," she said appearing over me and giving me a light kiss. I rolled her over until I was on top of her, and I gave her a kiss again. "Besides," she said, running her hands down my spine and stopping to flutter her fingers across the one spot on my body that could be harmed. The electricity still made me weak, "That's the only place that I could actually do anything to you."

"Physically, maybe," I said, breathing deeply. "Hormonally? Mentally? Emotionally? You can do a lot of things with those."

"Hmm," said Annabeth, closing her eyes and letting a little smile play across her lips, "Yes, those things I can mess with without much effort at all."

The kissing began again, heating up slowly as it always did, when suddenly we heard someone say, "I SWEAR TO GOD I'M NOT LOOKING."

Immediately, Annabeth shoved me sideways off the bed, holding on to the blanket.

I tried not to think of the fact that I was face down, naked, on the floor, and my pale butt was sticking up in the air.

"I'M STILL NOT LOOKING. I DIDN'T WANT TO BE HERE."

"Thalia!" screamed Annabeth, throwing me my boxers from the chair to the other side of the bed, "What the Hades are you doing here?"

I pulled on the boxers, grabbed my shirt for Annabeth, and sat on the bed.

"You need to explain, Thalia," said Annabeth, pulling the shirt over her head, "And now. This is not okay."

"Can I move my hands?"  
I looked over at Annabeth, who was under a blanket. She shrugged. "Yeah," I said, "Go ahead."

Tentatively, Thalia moved her hands, opened her eyes, and promptly made a face like she'd just sniffed poo.

"Please don't make me think about what you were just doing to Annabeth," said Thalia, glaring at me, "Is there anywhere safe to sit?"

"What do you mean?" asked Annabeth.

"Anywhere where you two haven't…" She let her sentence trail off.

I glared at her. "We're not sex crazed bunnies, Pinecone Head."

Thalia rolled her eyes and went to sit in a chair.

"NOT THERE," Annabeth and I shouted at the same time. Thalia looked at the chair as if it asked to see her naked, and leaned against the wall.

"Why the HELL are you here?" Annabeth asked.

"Artemis made me."

I looked at her suspiciously. "Artemis made you…?" I asked.

Thalia nodded, a pained look all over her face. "She…She knows whenever she loses a maiden. And…Well, when that maiden has ever once considered being a Hunter, she orders another Hunter to inform them of their loss of possible membership to the Hunters."

Annabeth, fuming already, glared at Thalia. "And she had to send the girl who is pretty much my older sister to do it?"

Thalia threw her hands up, "Look, I fought against that. I told her, 'Hey, I don't want to see what they're up to. She's like a sister. Would you like to see Apollo doing something like that?' And then she started drawing her bow and I said okay and here I was. And trust me," said Thalia, her eyes darting over to me, "Staring at your pale, white, butt was not on my list of 'awesome things to do today,' I can assure you."

"His butt is wonderful," muttered Annabeth.

"Oh," I said, oddly touched, "Thanks."

"You weren't supposed to hear that," said Annabeth, blushing slightly.

"Eh," I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulder, "It was cute."  
"STOP IT," said Thalia, "STOP IT. RIGHT NOW. NO CANOODLING WHILE I AM IN THE ROOM. I AM PRETENDING THE TWO OF YOU ARE HERE FOR A TEA PARTY, AND CANOODLING IS MAKING IT HARD TO KEEP UP THAT DELUSION."

Annabeth started laughing, "Thalia, I never really wanted to join the Hunters."  
"Yes, you did, shut up," said Thalia. I felt like someone had just whacked me upside the head, which Annabeth usually did but this was different.

"Wait," I said, "You did?"

Annabeth shrugged, "Not seriously. But a little bit when you were not talking to anyone, and right after we kissed at the forges…But it wasn't real. You were too important to me to give up that easily."

Thalia mimed hurling. "You two," she said, "Are disgusting."

"Yeah," I said, looking at Annabeth, "I could see that."

"If you look through the perspective of a lonely, deprived old maid!"

"BAM!" I said to Annabeth. I gave her a high five, and the two of us looked over at Thalia, who had this weird look on her face.

"I…I can't deal with this. Let's pretend all I said was this: Artemis informs you that you are no longer eligible for membership to the Hunters. Now I'm leaving to go bleach my brain."

And with that, Thalia disappeared, and Annabeth stared at me.

"Why did she have to do that?" I asked, the embarrassment of the situation and the possibility of Thalia telling, well, everyone sinking in.

"I don't know," Annabeth said, pulling her hair back into a ponytail, "But I feel like it killed the mood."

I tried to force back a grumble.

I was a teenage boy.

No mood was killed unless I said it was.

But Annabeth pulled off my shirt – win – and then put on her clothing – not a win. A loss, really.

"Oh, quit pouting," she said rolling her eyes, "We'll see each other soon."

"But," I said, "But no."

Annabeth came over, placed a hand on my shoulder, and gave me a light kiss. "Come on," she said, taking my hand, "Put your clothes on."

Begrudgingly, I did just that, and she and I left the hotel room.

"What?" asked Annabeth as we walked down the street to Annabeth's school.

"What what?"

"You were staring at me. What's wrong?"  
I shrugged. I hadn't even realized I was looking at her. "Nothing. Just thinking."

Annabeth laughed, "Don't hurt yourself, Seaweed Brain."

I pushed her lightly. "Oh, shut up. Just – when you pushed me off the bed, I was worried it was your mom barging in on us and that she would have castrated me or something."

Annabeth's eyes went wide. "Oh gods, that would have been horrible."

Another thought hit me. "If Artemis knows…"

"THEN SHE TOLD ATHENA."

Annabeth took my hand again, and she started to laugh.

"WHY in Poseidon's name are you laughing?" I asked, bewildered, running behind Annabeth as she dragged me in the opposite direction, back to the hotel room.

"If we're going to get killed," she said with a devilish grin on her face, "We might as well make the best of our last few moments."

I stumbled after her.

Easily the best girlfriend in the world.

Even if her mother wanted to kill me.

_A/N2: So…I've realized that older Annabeth and Percy in my head are like Marshall and Lily from How I Met Your Mother. Without the depressing breakup. Hence, the high five part._

_Hope you liked it!_


	2. The Second Interruption

_A/N: Okay, Canoodlus Interruptus was supposed to be a oneshot. And then people had to go and LIKE IT! I was not expecting people to like it!_

_So, I decided to continue it, but this chapter is kind of meh because I came up with it as an attempt to continue the plotline. But I don't have too much of an idea about what I want to do, so any suggestions/ideas would be very welcome! I have a very vague plot line in mind, but how to get there might be difficult._

_Read, review, enjoy!_

It didn't take long once we returned to the hotel and rented another room for the two of us to be all over each other again.

We were eighteen, lost each other for six months, and might be getting brutally vaporized by her mother in two seconds.

In short, we had nothing to lose.

She pulled my shirt over my head and paused for a moment.

"Enjoying the view?" I asked, confused.

"Don't flatter yourself," she said, "But I have an idea."  
That girl would be the death of me. And I couldn't love it more.

Annabeth came back with a wicked smile on her face, holding something bright blue in her hands. "Go to the bed and close your eyes."

"What?"  
"Go. To the bed. And close. Your eyes."

"Again, what?"  
"Oh come on," she said, laughing, "I said it in all single syllables."  
"I hate you."

"You do not."

"Okay," I said, giving up, "Go ahead."

A few minutes later, after some shuffling, rustling and clattering, Annabeth said, "Open your eyes."

She was standing there in a cute little lingerie set that I swear she hadn't been wearing earlier.

"Holy…"

"You were so desperate to rip my clothes off me earlier," she said, walking towards me so slowly it was like she was trying to torture me, "I didn't want to waste this pretty thing when I knew you'd never notice it."

"Holy…"

"Are you going to say anything else?"

I tried to say that I didn't think I could, but all that came out was, "Duh fuff."

"That's what I thought," said Annabeth, "Do you like the color?"

When she sat on my lap, she said, "Oh. You do."

"Shut up, this is all your fault."

"Hmm," she said, leaning in to kiss me. It was a light brush across my lips, torture after remembering what she was wearing and what we'd been doing earlier, "Fault?

"Yes, fault," I said, drawing a shaky breath, trying to remember my own name while staring at Annabeth in that little outfit. It wasn't easy.  
What she said next completely broke me. "I think you like it."

"Oh," I said, grabbing her by the waist so she was lying on the bed, planting little kisses all over her smooth collarbone, "You have no idea." I traced the scar on her arm from the knife she took for me, another thin line from the bottom of her ribs to – at this I gulped – right below the elastic band of her underwear. She shivered and smiled.

"You take too long."

She pulled me down so I was kissing her, my entire brain probably leaking out of my ears, but this was nothing new. Each time we touched was like another spark igniting in me.

"So," she said, giving me another one of her little smiles, "We haven't died yet."  
"We have not."

In one swift move, she switched it so that she was straddling me. My breath hitched in the back of my throat, and I made a strangled noise.

Annabeth giggled quietly. "You're such a goof."

"Yeah. My seaweed is in brain."

"What?" said Annabeth, laughing. I went to open my mouth to respond, but Annabeth kissed me before I could say anything, "I changed my mind," she said, leaning her forehead against mine, "Stop talking."

* * *

"PERSEUS JACKSON."

"WHAT'D I DO?" I said, flying off of the bed and landing on the floor.

"PUT YOUR HANDS ALL OVER MY DAUGHTER, THAT'S WHAT."

I should have known it was going to be a horrible mistake to have seen Annabeth in that little outfit. It was too good to be true. I looked over at her, "Damn you."

"Me?" she said in surprise, "You had just as much fun with this as I did. More probably."

"Damn you for being so perfect except for the crazy mother!"  
"I HEARD THAT."

"Shit."

Athena, averting her eyes from Annabeth and my various states of undress, was nearly shaking with anger.

"Annabeth," she said, "Dress yourself and then we'll have a little talk."

"Mom!" she said, throwing on her jeans and tee shirt over her little bra and panty set. I got quite disappointed – I enjoyed that view. "I'm eighteen!"

"And sleeping with a son of Poseidon? Did you have to?"

Annabeth sighed, "Mom, if you had waited like two more seconds…"

"Hey!" I said indignantly, "I would not have only lasted half a minute."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and looked over at me, "You barely lasted half a second."

"I do NOT need to hear this!" said Athena, looking at me positively horrified.

New Year's resolution: keep this impulsiveness in check especially around my girlfriend's mother.

"I do hope you realize," said Athena when both of us had become clothed, "I'm going to have to incinerate one of you."

"Oh goody," I muttered, "Only one of us."

"I heard that, son of Poseidon."

"I have a name."

"I would prefer not to utter it after hearing my daughter…" Athena's voice trailed off, looking extremely uncomfortable, but her words hit the spot – Annabeth and I turned bright red and the look on Annabeth's face pretty much defined how I was feeling.

"Mom," she said, "Why is this such a big deal? We're eighteen, we're not being stupid, we've been together for two years – what's the problem?"

"Your mother is a maiden goddess!" said Athena, glaring down at Annabeth. If I was in Annabeth's place, I'd be cowering in fear, but instead she was just staring right back at her mother.

The girl had a stubborn streak comparative only to mine. It led to far too many fights to count.

"What's that even mean?" shouted Annabeth, throwing her hands in the air, "I'm not the one who promised that to Zeus. I'm not the one who's going to be struck down for getting laid."

I tried not to let the phrasing of that get to me.

Too late. I started to giggle.

"What are YOU laughing at?" It was in that moment that I saw the resemblance between the two of them. It was downright frightening to have that much rage directed at you at once.

I sat down in the chair, stunned, "Um," I said, "I'm going to stay out of this."

"Good!" said Annabeth. "

"You're not allowed to see him again," said Athena.

"Oh yeah?" Annabeth said, putting her hands on her hips. I'd never seen her this rebellious before.

It was kind of hot.

"Annabeth, if it was anyone else…"

"I'd be ignoring them and wouldn't want them!" said Annabeth, leaning against the wall, "Can you just possibly move past who his dad is and leave us be?"

"No!"

"Why not?"  
"Because you're too young! Is it so wrong for a mother to want to care for her daughter?"

"We're eighteen…" I interjected. Both of them turned to glare at me. I shrunk back from the argument, "Sorry, sorry!"

"Annabeth, you're coming with me."  
"I am not!"

"You have no choice."

"I – what?"

Suddenly I was alone in the room.

"Annabeth? Athena?"

She'd be kidnapped by her own mother.

"ANNABETH. PERSEUS. YOU HAVE SOME – oh, crap."

"Uh, hi Dad?"

"Athena got here first, didn't she?" asked Poseidon, looking exasperated.


	3. Poseidon's Assistance

_A/N: Thanks for the reviews and the suggestions! They helped me come up with what I have here, even if the suggestions aren't exactly the same as the plot. Brainstorming helps so much!_

_Read, review, enjoy!_

"Um," I said, my eyes darting around the room, praying that my dad wasn't looking at all the clothing strewn about the room, including the little outfit Annabeth had been wearing earlier, "Yeah, Athena was here about fifteen seconds before you got here. And she took Annabeth with her."

Suddenly, I was just about punched in the face with a bunch of water and, for the first time in a while, I actually got wet.

"What," I sputtered, surprised, "What was that?"

"You needed to cool off, hot shot," said Poseidon, "Look, do you want to get Annabeth back?"

I stared at him, disbelieving, "No," I said sarcastically, "I want her to disappear into oblivion."

"Oh."

"Sarcasm, Dad."

"Where'd you get that gene?"

"Mom."

Poseidon said, "Oh," in a knowing way, and smiled. "I'm glad you got that part of her personality," he said with a smile, "My tendency to miss sarcasm leads to many odd circumstances."

I blinked.

"Right," he said, "Getting Annabeth back. You're going to have to pander to Athena something big. I'm actually surprised that she didn't toast you on the spot or give you snake hair like she did to Medusa, actually. You're still completely intact, correct?"

I looked down at my body. Nothing was different. Nothing felt funny. Nothing seemed like it changed. "I think I'm okay," I said, shrugging.

"Good then," said my father, "Now, put on some clothing, skinny boy. I would appreciate it if I went to talk to Athena with a clothed son."

I blushed. "Sorry, Dad. About all of this."

To my surprise, my father burst into laughter. "Sorry? Percy, I think it's awesome that you've gotten together with Annabeth. She's quite an impressive girl, beautiful and smart – I like her. She might whip some sense into you. And making Athena mad is always fun."

I rolled my eyes and stepped into my jeans. "I'm glad that the fact that my girlfriend's mother hates me is such a source of amusement to you."

Poseidon sighed. "Look, kiddo –"

"I'm eighteen!"

"Whatever. Kiddo, you need to get on Athena's good side. And sleeping with her daughter probably isn't the best way to do that. However, we can't undo that, which I have a feeling you're pretty happy about –"

"Dad!" I said, mortified, "Seriously, do we have to talk about this?"

"I'm sorry, should I be more discreet. Fine then. Long story short, you need to do something big for Athena so she doesn't torch you. Since you and Annabeth don't seem to like the idea of breaking up, I have a feeling that the only thing that you can do so you and Annabeth get what you want is to make Athena like you despite her hatred for me. Knowing her she's already come up with some scheme to make it so you and Annabeth will have a much more difficult time together from now on, but we'll see."

I finally managed to get myself completely clothed, and looked around the hotel room. "Um," I said, my face feeling white hot, "I need to…I should probably pick this place up, since we're going to be…Not coming back here."

Poseidon nodded, and finally seemed to feel uncomfortable. "I'll, um," he said, turning as red as I probably was, "I'll wait outside in the hallway. So you can pick this stuff up."

The second my dad walked into the hallway, I collapsed back onto the bed.

This had been a crazy day, even for a demigod. Annabeth and I…And then Thalia…And then Athena, then Annabeth leaving, then Poseidon…

I could barely keep my thoughts straight. It was probably unhealthy to have gone through so much embarrassment in one day.

I picked up the panties and bra that had been thrown across the room, and put them in Annabeth's backpack. How she managed to keep them a secret from me, I couldn't know, but I was pretty glad she did.

"Okay," I said to myself, shaking my head to clear the good memories of the past few hours, "Focus, Jackson, clean up and shut up."

When everything was finally packed away, I walked into the hallway to find my father flirting with one of the maids. I gave him a funny look. "Um, Dad?"

He turned around, not even blushing. "Oh, hello, Percy. This is Catherine."

The maid, a girl maybe two years older than me, waved and smiled. I couldn't decide if I was horrified or just confused beyond recognition.

"We need to go, um," I searched my mind for a plausible, human excuse, which was hard to do when one was a demigod, "Get groceries."

He gave me a look that reminded me of the one Annabeth gives me when I say something completely stupid.

Why did everyone think I was such an idiot?

"Fine, then, Percy, let's go."

I had a feeling that Catherine the Maid was extremely confused to see the two of us disappear in a puff of mist, but I didn't think my dad cared.

He probably just wanted to go back and see her.

"Here we are," said my dad, rolling his eyes, "Back to Olympus to get you back together with your little girlfriend."

"Do you have a problem with Annabeth?" I asked, confused.

"No," he said, looking disappointed, "I just really liked that Catherine girl."

"She was maybe two years older than me!"

"So?" he asked, "She's cute."

"TWO YEARS."

"I'm technically three thousand years old, Percy," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder, "Any mortal alive today is far too young for any of the gods. I got in trouble once for calling Athena a cougar. Good story, by the way, I'll tell you if you survive this."

"Thanks, Dad, nice to know I have your support."

Missing the sarcasm completely, my father gave me a rough pat on the back. "Well," he said, "What are you waiting for? Go up to Olympus."  
"You're not coming?"

"Nah," he said, turning to leave, "You need to learn to fight your own battles."  
"I helped save Olympus!" I said, disbelieving, "What do you mean, fight my own battles?"

"Okay, fine," he said, raising his hands up, "I actually just don't want to deal with Athena right now. See you later, kiddo!"

I ended up saying, "I'm eighteen!" to the mist – he disappeared before I could say anything.

I took a deep breath as I walked up to the elevator. At this point the guard only had to take one look at me before he just handed over the key.

"Thanks, bud."

He grumbled, "Your welcome," and waved me off as I went over to the elevator.

The entire way up, I was trying to figure out how to say, "I know you're probably mad that your daughter and I slept together, but we're adults and we know what we're doing and how can I make you not hate me" without sounding like a brat.

It would be bad enough to have a mortal parent find out you were sleeping with your girlfriend, I guessed, but immortal parents are both scary and have more means of torture than mortal parents.

At least it wasn't Annabeth's dad who found us in bed – he would have shot me with celestial bronze the second he saw the two of us, now being the super protective father. To be entirely honest, I was surprised that Athena didn't vaporize me, but I still wasn't sure that she hadn't done something to me, and that the results just hadn't manifested yet.

When the elevator hit the 600th floor, I saw the blonde hair of my favorite demigod.

"Annabeth!" I said, my heart swelling when I saw her leaning against one of the columns she had designed two years ago.

She turned around and smiled when she saw me. "Hey, Seaweed Brain!"

I walked over to her, but when I got within a foot of her, I felt like I was slapped in the face.

"Ow."

"What? Having trouble thinking again?" Annabeth asked with a laugh, taking another step towards me. I felt the slapping sensation again.

"OW!"

"What is WRONG with –"

"DON'T TAKE ANOTHER STEP," I said, backing away from her. "I think I figured out what Athena's revenge for all this is."

Annabeth laughed and smiled, and the look on her face made me want to do nothing more than take her back to the hotel room. "She said she'd taught you a lesson in the hotel room. It's all over now. We talked, and she thinks that I know what I'm doing. I think she's okay with us." Annabeth took another step towards me, and I felt the slap again.  
"OH, HOLY MOSES. Seriously, don't, Athena managed to figure out something that is painful, frustrating, annoying, keeping us apart, and a little humiliating."

Annabeth stopped in her tracks, and I could tell she was finally starting to realize I was serious. "What did she do?" she asked, curious.

"It's a slap in the face."

"Well, yeah," she said, rolling her eyes and putting her hands on her hips, "I got that it was embarrassing, but I don't think right now is the time for euphemisms."

"No," I said, gingerly touching my face and wondering if there was a five star mark on it, "I mean she's making something literally slap me in the face."

It took Annabeth about five minutes before she managed to stop laughing.


	4. Slap in the Face

_A/N: And here it is…The final chapter of what was supposed to be a one shot! Please keep that in mind, by the way – I didn't start this story with the intent to make other chapters, so everything after the first chapter has been formulated out of desperation haha._

_Thank you for all of your reviews – I appreciate it so much!_

_Oh, and this is canon with Illogical and Stupid, my two Rico one shots, and the upcoming story that I will be starting soon!_

_And so begins…The finale!_

"This," I said, wincing, "Is not funny, Annabeth. Stop laughing."

She briefly paused. "Okay, I'm sorry. I'll stop laughing. But seriously, a slap in the face? Come on, my mother isn't usually that ridiculous."

"Actually, I suppose I am that 'ridiculous,'" said Athena's regal tone. She walked over to me, and immediately I felt like hiding behind something.

"H-hi, Athena," I said, trying desperately not to run and hide like a child. I wasn't sure if this was just my instinct when it came to my girlfriend's mom or if Athena was actually planting the fear into my mind, but either way I was about to curl into a little ball and start crying.

"Hello, Perseus," she said smoothly, coming gracefully to a stop next to her daughter, who was attempting to keep from laughing, "I see you've discovered my punishment."

I timidly nodded and felt like an eight year old looking up at their third grade teacher waiting for punishment, "Yes, ma'am. I'm…Well, I'm not sorry I'm with your daughter. But, um, I apologize for offending you." I took a deep breath and glanced over at Annabeth, who had finally stopped cracking up and was looking at me as if I was insane. "Even so, I don't see my relationship with your daughter ending any time soon. I'm –" I glanced over at Annabeth, who was looking angelic as ever even though her hair was still a mess and her clothes were bedraggled and ill fitting, "I'm completely in love with her. So, erm, please don't kill me, because I promise I won't leave her before she leaves me or break her heart or do anything stupid."

The look Athena gave me was an embarrassing combination of incredulity, mocking, and condescension. I wasn't exactly okay with it.

"Okay," I said, "I'll probably do a huge amount of stupid stuff. But I won't do anything too stupid when it comes to Annabeth – mainly because she'd kick my butt if I even tried to."

Athena still didn't say anything. I stood and watched her, but eventually even that got uncomfortable. I wasn't completely okay with looking at Annabeth either, because I had a weird feeling that if I did, Athena would fry my face off. I glanced around the place that Annabeth had designed earlier – towering columns, skillful architecture.

And all of it representative of how much smarter Annabeth was compared to me. I hoped her mother understood that.

"Mom?" said Annabeth, finally stepping in, "Um, would you mind if I said something?"

"Go ahead, Annabeth," said Athena, turning to face her daughter.

"Mom, he's an idiot. I know that."

"Thanks, Annabeth…" I muttered.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain, you're not helping your case," she said with the smallest trace of laughter, "Anyway, what I mean is that he's an idiot. He makes a million and six dumb decisions every day. He takes risks. But he never does anything to hurt anyone," she said, smiling in my direction. "Really, Mother, can you find a situation where he was intentionally hurtful?"

I didn't think I would have ever seen the goddess of wisdom stumped, but she was. Annabeth folded her arms across her chest and let a small smug smile play across her lips. "See?" said the demigod, "He may just be the most ridiculously pigheaded person on the planet. The dumbest things I've ever seen have had something to do with him. But his idiotic decisions have saved lives – even mine, Mom. Remember?"

Athena closed her eyes as if she was in pain. "He was one of the three to save you when Atlas kidnapped you."

Annabeth nodded and allowed me to see a quick smile. I knew that smile – she was about to go in for the kill, prove her point. As usual, Annabeth was about to win this argument. "And he saved me as I fell."

Athena stepped towards me, and I expected her to backhand me across the face or pick me up and toss me like a shot put, but instead she walked over to the spot where Annabeth had nearly plummeted to her death nearly three years before. "You caught her."

"Yes," I said hesitantly, "I wasn't going to let her die. That right there would have been the stupidest thing I would have ever done."

Athena nodded, and I decided it would be safe to take a step towards her. "That's kind of how it's always been, Lady Athena," I said gently, "I fall, she catches me. She falls, I catch her. It works with the two of us."

Sharply nodding, she looked up at me. "She's far too smart for you."

I wasn't exactly sure how to respond, so I went with the truth. "Well, duh, everyone knows that."

Athena stepped back next to her daughter. "I must speak with Annabeth again."

"Okay, that's –" My mouth was moving, but I couldn't hear a sound. Had Athena stricken me dumb? I tried to shout, "I can't hear anything!" but all I saw was Annabeth starting to laugh – again.

It would be awesome if I could figure out what was going on.

_Your hearing has been blocked for now,_ Athena said to me in my thoughts, _so stop shouting as I speak to my daughter. And turn towards the elevator, I don't want you trying to read lips._

I resisted the urge to answer with, "Yes, Mom," and did as she told me.

I had a feeling that things weren't this difficult with most teenagers. We were barely teenagers anymore, as well. Annabeth was eighteen. I would be nineteen in a month. I wasn't sure why this was Athena's problem at this point, but apparently Annabeth was supposed to be a maiden demigod.

Stupid gods and goddesses getting in the middle of our teenage hormones. They couldn't make anything easy for us could they?

"Perseus, you can come in closer," said Athena, and it took me a moment to realize that I was actually hearing it as opposed to having it appear in my thoughts.

I was about to take a step, but then I remembered Athena's punishment. I hesitated, "Won't I get slapped?" I asked, wary of the answer.

"Yes." The way she said it was a dare – if I cared for Annabeth enough, I'd walk into pain.

I'd do worse for her. I'd done worse for her.

I took a step closer to Annabeth, and immediately felt a palm across my face. I did my best not to wince as the second slap was on the exact same spot, and tried to steady myself.

Between slaps, I managed to get a look at Athena. "This was a test," I stated.

"Actually," said Athena, "It was two tests."

"Huh?" I asked intelligently, but it wasn't my fault. You try thinking straight when you have an invisible hand five-starring you repeatedly.

"First, your intelligence. Would you be smart enough to remember that there was a punishment for being near my daughter. You were."

"It's not easy to forget being slapped in the face," I muttered. Annabeth hit me lightly on my arm, the universal sign for me to shut up. "Oh, come on," I said to her, "Aren't I getting hurt enough for you as we speak without you hitting me?"

Athena cleared her throat, and I did my best to turn back to her. Unfortunately, that meant leaning into the slap and having the oddest sensation of getting a literal face palm. "The second test was whether or not you would be willing to endure getting hit for my daughter."

"It's not a big deal," I said, "She's hit me harder for much more minor offenses."

As if to prove my point, Annabeth seemed to reflexively reach out and smack me on the arm. She wasn't even looking at me as she did it.

"Yes," said Athena, sounding disapproving, "I did notice this. But I suppose I have no choice in the matter. As much as I've tried, I cannot find a fault with you, Perseus, other than your intelligence. And this is a matter that cannot be resolved. I must live with the fact that my daughter is dating a man with the mental acuity of a fifteen year old."

"I'M EIGHTEEN!" I shouted. The next slap was a particularly hard one that sent me staggering right into a column, "Ow," I said, dazed, "Okay, fine, I'm sorry for shouting." I did notice, however, that Athena called me a man. Hopefully this boded well.

"I will let you two go now," said Athena, "But be careful. If you two make a mistake, and by you two I mean you, Perseus," I forced myself not to roll my eyes, "You should be prepared to expect punishment."

"Thank you, Mother," said Annabeth, putting her hand out to shake Athena's. Instead, Athena wrapped her in a motherly hug.

"You are welcome, my daughter."

I took Annabeth's hand, and, getting smacked in the ear, turned to the elevator.

"Wait," said Athena.

I let go of Annabeth's hand and turned back to Athena, beginning to worry that she had changed her mind. "What is it?"

"Aren't you going to ask me to remove the curse?" she asked, looking a little flustered.

I shook my head. "I kind of assumed it was a permanent thing."

Still staring at me, she nearly shouted, "You weren't going to have me take it off? You would have just lived your life being slapped in the face whenever the two of you were together."

I looked at Annabeth then back to Athena. "Yeah, it worked for me."

The slapping stopped. "You're an enigma, Percy Jackson."

"Uh," I said, rubbing my sore and raw face, "Is that a good thing in your eyes?"

Athena shook her head, but instead of how she usually did, with a feeling of resentment, she did so with a smile on her face. "I'm not sure yet," she said, "But we'll figure it out soon. Good day, Annabeth. Take good care of Percy – he'll need it."

Annabeth grabbed my hand and pulled me along. "Don't worry. I've got this, Mom."

The two of us stepped in the doors, and the goddess waved goodbye as the doors shut.

"So," I asked Annabeth as the elevator descended, "What would you like to do with this newfound freedom?"

I felt an uncomfortable tightening in my jeans when I saw the look on her face. Devilish, beautiful, sexy, perfect, gorgeous, mine. I swallowed hard and felt my heart beating fast. "Um…Annabeth?"

"You should know exactly what I want to do," she said stepping towards me.

"In…In the elevator?" I squeaked, kicking myself for sounding like a pubescent kid.

"No one to interrupt," she said, pressing the emergency stop button, "No video cameras," she anchored a hand in my hair and tilted my head to hers, "Nowhere we need to be."

Our lips slammed against each other with a hungry force I couldn't get enough of. I didn't care what anyone else said – immortal life could never compare to this.

_A/N2: Thank you for reading! This is the first non one shot story that I have completed! Yay me!_


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